Monday, May 14, 2018

From the beginning, it was clear that Wainwright did not have his best feel for pitches or the velocity expected.

After the game he said he lacked “snap.”

His fastball hovered below 90 mph, and there were times he had a cutter at 84 mph or 82 mph. His changeup, which usually would be in that range, slipped into the 70s mph. He was able to get outs with his curveball and find a way through two scoreless innings. In the third, a single with the bases loaded produced the Padres’ first run and ...

Scioscia has refrained from using Ohtani the days directly before and after his starts and the player said his has physically responded well to the schedule.
...
His condition has made the Angels wonder if it’s possible for them to get more out of him, with Scioscia already saying he will likely pitch once every six days at some point this season.

“In the big picture of where I think we will need to be with our rotation, it’s going to be very helpful if he can come back and pitch on that sixth ...

Saturday, May 12, 2018

“Chase has been great to this organization for a long time,” manager Andy Green said. “This has been a tough start to the season, and he got very limited opportunity. It got to the point where it was probably best for everyone involved to make that move. … Nothing but gratitude for the way he went about his job, the professionalism. He showed up every day, (he made) an investment in these guys. He was trying to make an impact every day.”

Kaat’s primary points about the change include the fact it would restore the importance of starting pitchers, with the starter going five and then the setup man and closer taking over; the size of pitching staffs could be reduced (clearly this has no chance of flying with the union); and teams could bring back four-man starting rotations.

[T]he Double-A San Antonio Missions—like all great Minor League clubs, really—are innovators. They weren’t just content to trot some bird or woodland creature out there while locked in a tight game against the Frisco RoughRiders on Friday night. No, they enlisted the help of an enormous and terrifying snake:

Sometimes his splitter dives straight down. Other times it behaves almost like a slider, darting down and to his glove side.

He can bounce it, which he did multiple times to the Dodgers’ Kyle Farmer on Tuesday night, striking him out on a splitter in the dirt with the winning run on third in the 10th inning. He can also throw it for strikes, something he did to freeze the next batter, Chase Utley, to end the inning in a game the Diamondbacks went on to win.

Here’s Roger Hornsby, the star shortstop of the St. Louis Cardinals, who is now playing his third and last major league campaign. He will receive $350,000 for Texas oil properties he owns and plans to get out of baseball.

Hornsby did get out of baseball. When the Reds fired him as manager. In 1953.

Outfield Eloy Jimenez is enjoying an incredible start to his season with the Double-A Barons of the Southern League, and this comes after he suffered a minor pectoral strain at the end of workouts in Glendale for Spring Training.

Activated from that injury on April 19th, Jimenez has been on a tear ever since.

At age 21, Jiminez is the youngest player on the Birmingham Barons. He will likely be up a level (or two) at some point in the summer.

Controversy surfaced when the question of “juicing” or steroid use came up. Colletti mentioned legendary hitter Barry Bonds, saying, “It hurts me that Barry’s not in the Hall. He was one of the greatest, smartest players I’ve been around —genius.”

While commenting that he never saw any drug use, Colletti did say that of course it was suspected, but that management’s hands were tied because the players’ union did not allow drug testing for athletes. He claims, though, he ...

When Kaminski decided on a whim to audition for the Braves organist position in 2009, he got the job. Two years later, he was contacted by the Georgia athletic association, which asked Kaminski to play a few games in Athens.

What started as a dozen or so games the first year turned into a seven-year long relationship between Kaminski and the Bulldogs. Whenever the Braves are out of town, or their season has not yet started, Kaminski can be found at Foley Field. The difference in crowd size ...

Not a question I had ever considered asking, but some of these are pretty neat. One example:

The final score was 71-1 and that was after only four innings. St. Francis, a dual member of the NAIA and DII baseball, jumped all over Robert Morris, and they did it quickly forcing them to surrender after four innings. Here are just some of the more eye-popping numbers from that game that still stand as single-game records:

A familiar face is making a comeback in professional baseball in North Texas, with a few grey hairs to show for his time off. Rafael Palmeiro signed on Wednesday with the independent Cleburne Railroaders, who play in the American Association.

Now 53, Palmeiro played 20 years for the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles, and he won’t be making the trip to Cleburne alone.
[...]
“Wherever you go, I’m gonna go with you because we’re gonna do this together,” said Palmeiro’s older son Patrick.

Pérez grew up in the little sugar mill town of Violeta, learning to hit pebbles with a stick, playing his way out of the mill through that narrow window just before the Bay of Pigs (when the window closed permanently). The “140-pound string bean with the fluorescent smile” signed with the Cincinnati Reds. His bonus? A $2.50 visa and a plane ticket to Tampa.

The Orioles are one of the worst teams in baseball and it’s clear this team needs to be rebuilt…Looking at this whole situation, it appears the dust is starting to settle, and the winner of this interesting saga looks to be Brady Anderson. Anderson has been quoted as saying he wasn’t seeking out new responsibilities, but if they were to come he would take them on.

The Matt Harvey saga is officially over in New York, but it’s just beginning in a new and unlikely place. On Tuesday evening, the Mets announced they were trading Harvey, who was designated for assignment last Friday, to the Reds in exchange for catcher Devin Mesoraco. The deal is essentially a swap of broken-down former All-Stars, though for Harvey, the move to Ohio can charitably be described as a worst-case scenario.

The Reds agreed to pay the Mets $5,788,978 as part of the trade, which made the deal come out nearly even financially. Harvey is making $5,625,000 on a one-year contract. Mesoraco gets $13 million in the final season of a four-year, $28 million deal.

This would have been a blockbuster deal a few seasons ago. Unfortunately, both players are now washed-out, former All-Stars. I realize that the Reds are desperate for starting pitching, but I don’t understand why they want to pay $13M for a ...

“Maybe I’ll just go on and be a hired gun the rest of my career, I don’t really care,” Lynn said in his monotone voice. “If somebody gives me a chance to pitch, I’m going to go do it, I’m not worried about anything else. It’s kind of been who I’ve been my whole life. I’m going to take the ball and I’m going to try to help the team win.

“That’s kind of the unfortunate business part of baseball now. I was here for seven years and there’s no loyalty in the game. So as ...

The call was urgent, and the emotions raw, when three businessmen pulled into the Little Havana neighborhood in the early afternoon, rang the doorbell, and solemnly walked into the home to get the dead body.

A man directed them to the bedroom where his father had just passed away. He looked up twice and stared intently through his glassy, reddened eyes, as his face contorted in an odd mixture of grief, confusion and thrill.

Harry Heilman [sic], Tiger outfielder, had an experience recently which will stick with him for a while and which will keep him glued to his seat in the Pullman when traveling about the country…The train hesitated at New London, Conn., and Heilman jumped off to get some sandwiches, running out of the Pullman car without coat and hat. While he was purchasing the grub the whistle blew and off went the rattler minus Heilman.